Word processing and document editing is a common task performed by millions of computer users every day. In current computer environments, the process for copying or transferring data from one computer application to another, otherwise known as “cut and paste” or “copy and paste,” involves a series of steps. Typically, these steps include opening a first application, selecting data from an instance of the first application, copying or cutting the selected data to a clipboard, opening a second application, selecting a location in an instance of the second application and inserting the selected data at the selected location of the second application. In one example, the Help utility of the Microsoft Word 2002 word processor, available from Microsoft Corporation of Redmond, Wash., offers the following instructions for copying and pasting, “Select the item you want to move or copy. Do one of the following: 1) to move the item, click the cut button on the toolbar, 2) to copy the item, click the copy button on the toolbar. To move or copy the item to another document, switch to the other document. Click on the location in the other document where you want the item to appear. Click the paste button on the toolbar.”
This copy and paste process can be lengthy and cumbersome, especially if the user desires to perform a simple task, such as selecting a word and searching the web for that word or selecting data and performing an action on the selected data. Additionally, this process can be protracted and burdensome if the user is operating a small information processing device such as a mobile telephone, a handheld computer or a personal digital assistant (PDA), which have limited user interfaces. Therefore, a need exists to overcome the problems with the prior art as discussed above, and particularly for a way to simplify the task of copying data between computer applications.